Æ34 - Antoninus Pius L Η

Year eight of Antoninus Pius's reign — the Egyptian regnal year marked by the LH date on these Alexandrian bronzes — fell during a period of administrative consolidation in the province. Egypt remained unique in the Roman world for operating its own closed currency system: Roman coin did not circulate freely there, and Alexandrian issues could not legally leave the province. This piece was struck for local use only, within that carefully controlled monetary enclave that Rome maintained from Augustus onward.